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Woman faces child abandonment charges

A Big Spring woman was arrested Sunday afternoon on a charge of abandoning/endangering a child – criminal negligence after law enforcement officials say she left her 1-year-old infant in a vehicle unattended while she went shopping at the local Walmart Supercenter.Katherine Rios, 23, of 306 N.E. Sixth St., was arrested Sunday on a charge of abandoning/endangering a child – criminal negligence.According to Big Spring Police Department reports, officers were dispatched to Walmart — located in the 200 block of W. FM 700 — at approximately 4:33 p.m. after a shopper discovered the child in the vehicle, apparently unattended.“The person who called the incident in to dispatch found the child at 4:20 p.m.,” Sgt. Tony Everett, public information officer with the BSPD said. “The child was in the vehicle, unrestrained with the windows partially down.”Everett said the unattended child was also reported to the staff at the Walmart, at which time they began paging the owner of the vehicle.“The mother was located at 5 p.m., so we know for sure the child was unattended for a minimum of 40 minutes,” Everett said. “The woman told officers that she initially hadn't planned to take the infant with her and had forgot she was in the vehicle when she went inside.”Rios was arrested and taken to the Howard County Detention Center. Her bond has been set at $3,000 and she was still in the custody of the detention center at the time of this report, according to jail officials.